John Bolton

 

For once, there are some encouraging Brexit news coming from 10 Downing Street  – and what happens next? Our professional Remainers are moaning – again. Someone ought to tell them about the poll run by the DT – paywalled, but also accessible here and here. See for yourselves:

“The ComRes survey for The Telegraph found that 54 per cent of British adults think Parliament should be prorogued to prevent MPs stopping a no-deal Brexit. […] The public also overwhelmingly rejected the idea of the Queen being dragged into Brexit […]. Asked if the Queen should remain above politics and refuse to get involved in Brexit, 77 per cent said yes and 23 per cent said no.” (paywalled link).

The following numbers ought to make Remain MPs and indeed Remain MSM sit up and take note:

“Revealing a shocking lack of trust in elected politicians, 88 per cent of Labour voters and 86 per cent of Conservatives feel Parliament is out of touch with the British public. Nine in ten Leave voters (92 per cent) and eight in ten Remain voters (81 per cent) agreed. Nearly all those intending to vote Conservative (96 per cent) or the Brexit Party (98 per cent) agreed MPs were self-serving, as did more than four in five adults intending to vote Labour at the next election (85 per cent).” (paywalled link)

The message to the Establishment Parties is clear: support Leave or die. Will that put the frighteners on our beloved MPs? Hope springs eternal!

RemainCentral did mention this poll in a sniffy paragraph right at the bottom of an article warning Johnson and his adviser Dominic Cummings about interfering with the Remain HoC. For fairness’ sake Corbyn gets an honourable mention as well. The title of that article is revealing: “Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn ‘must play by the rulebook’ to avert constitutional crisis” (link, paywalled).

Of course, it is irrelevant that the Remain Speaker, Mr Bercow, hasn’t been ‘playing by the rule book’ because for Remainers, all is permitted if it helps to stop Brexit. This then is the quote – they felt obliged to mention that poll:

“A ComRes poll for The Daily Telegraph found that 54 per cent of the public agreed that Mr Johnson needed “to deliver Brexit by any means, including suspending parliament if necessary”. The survey, which gave the Tories a four-point lead over Labour, found dissatisfaction with MPs’ handling of Brexit, with 88 per cent saying parliament was out of touch.” (link, paywalled)

Still, there are those 12% who must think the Remain Parliament is perfectly fine!

Now let’s look at this excellent Brexit news: our Brussels diplomats are told not to attend EU meetings any longer! A non-paywalled report is here. The following comes from the paywalled DT:

“British diplomats will be pulled out of EU meetings on European law and policy under plans designed to show Brussels that Britain is serious about quitting the bloc on October 31. […] British diplomats attend regular working groups with representatives of the EU-27 in Brussels on a wide range of issues such as foreign policy and consumer protection. UK officials have worked to mitigate draft EU legislation that could penalise British interests after it has left the EU. EU diplomats said that the British contribution had been valuable, as officials diligently attended meetings after Theresa May vowed the UK would play a “full part” in the EU until the moment it left.” (paywalled link)

What then about the diplomats’ diligent work, ‘mitigating draft EU legislation that could penalise the UK’ once we’ve left? That one is easy to interpret: they and their EU counterparts are all still working as if Ms May’s WA will be implemented.

We recall that this WA means we’d still be shackled to EU law. Obviously, if we leave without a deal we wouldn’t need to be involved in EU deliberations. Remain wails were of course inevitable:

“Critics of Mr Johnson accused the Prime Minister of risking the good of the country for a cheap symbolic gesture. “Boris is reducing Britain’s influence, making us less able to shape policies that are bound to affect us,” said Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat MEP. […] “This is the latest silly season stunt from Johnson designed to ramp up his nationalist rhetoric,” said Seb Dance, a Labour MEP, “It’s a perfect analogy of Brexit itself – killing off Britain’s influence abroad for absolutely no gain whatsoever.” (paywalled link)

Both MEPs are Remain MEPs, so no surprise there. RemainCentral leads with a headline describing this as ‘epic stupidity’ and quotes Remain MPs as well as EU ‘diplomats’ who are evidently totally, utterly non-biased:

“Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said that he had written to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, asking him to explain the decision. “We are leaving and should seek to learn as much as we can about future plans while we can. It seems bizarre to be opting out of bodies taking decisions that could still affect us after we have left.” A Conservative MP said that it was an act of epic stupidity, adding: “It simply means we’re going to have to spend a fortune trying to find out what we could have known if we’d been in the room.” (link, paywalled)

There’s one significant quote in that article which needs a closer look, especially in view of other news:

“An EU official who has worked closely with Britain on foreign policy issues added: “If this is true it’s totally counterproductive. If you’re looking for support on, say, the ongoing problems with Iran, the last thing you should be doing is snubbing your partners . . . 27 of them.” (link, paywalled)

Interesting, that, when we read today what John Bolton, President Trump’s adviser, currently visiting the UK, said about the Iran problem:

“Theresa May refused to take part in a US operation to protect ships in the gulf, the US’s national security adviser has said. Britain’s original preference was to participate in some kind of European operation in the Gulf. ‘It might have had a couple of British ships in it. I’m still looking for what the European ships would do.” (link)

I’m also not aware that those lovely ‘EU officials’ who bewail Johnsons’ decision, have managed to make any progress in regard to Iran …

As for ‘snubbing one’s partners’: I’ve not forgotten the many photos of Ms May being sat like a delinquent schoolgirls outside those EU rooms where they ‘negotiated’ about the WA. Either our own ‘diplomats’ were complicit or they were useless. As for ‘partners’ – don’t make me laugh. They were more like parts of the Brussels brick wall designed to punish us.

Next, John Bolton’s ‘encouraging message’ for Johnson – here, and paywalled here and here. The DT writes:

“Speaking after talks with Boris Johnson at Downing Street today, John Bolton laid out the White House’s vision for a closer trans-Atlantic relationship after Brexit. He said that the President had ordered officials to “fast track” a comprehensive free trade agreement with the UK. […] Asked if that meant the US would support a no-deal Brexit, he said: “If that is the decision of the British government, we will support it enthusiastically. That is the message I am bringing: we are with you. Britain’s success in successfully exiting the EU is a statement about democratic rule and constitutional government that is important for Britain but for the US too, […] The fashion in the European Union when the people vote the wrong way from the way the elites want to go, is make the peasants vote again and again until they get it right.”(paywalled link)

Take not of that, Remainers! Trump and Bolton get it – it’s what we Leavers have been telling Remainers for the last three years.

However – the devil is always in the detail, so don’t go and by champagne for Halloween just yet. Johnson is still hoping that the EU will work out “A Deal” with him. The Express reports:

“Mr Johnson’s close confidantes have said Europe’s leaders will work with the new Prime Minister to aid Ireland. One Cabinet minister told The Sun: “The EU will give us a better deal, because if they don’t Ireland is f*****. No Deal will destroy it. […] Varadkar has overplayed his hand. He’s in deep trouble and needs a way out”. A No10 source added: “The EU are sitting back and waiting to see what Parliament does. So if there is to be a deal, it will come very late now. That is because of all the noise coming from the Remain side, but it’s also the history of the EU, it’s always last minute.” (link)

That means of course that ‘A Deal’ is eminently possible, and as it’s going to be a last-minute ‘deal’ we’ll not learn about it in time to scrutinise it. All I’ll say is: never trust the Tories, never trust the Whitehall Mandarins, and above all never trust the EU! 

 

KBO!

 

Photo by Gage Skidmore

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